Smoking had become a burden: the rituals, the toxins, the stench and soot, the drug, the addiction, the social stigma, the shame, the illness - the very packs and wrappers and butts, themselves! - all added weight to the burden…and it became too heavy to bear.
So, we gave it up. We proclaimed, “ Enough!“, and we laid that burden down. We shrugged it off our shoulders, we pried it from our arms, and we freed our hands to embrace something… else. Something bold and fresh. Something unknown, yet still chosen and wanted. Something inherently - by definition - better than what we discarded.
A shiny, new Quit…so full of promise and potential. And hope.
Don’t you see? A Quit is like an answered prayer, not another burden we must carry now.
We did not put an end to one life of suffering only to begin a new life of struggling.
Let the facts empower!
Let the wisdom embolden!
Let the skills enable!
These do not add weight to our new journey; they add energy!
It's the fixations and neglect, and the worry and regret and doubt, and the excuses and exceptions and compromises with addictive cigarettes - these are the unnecessary bricks, and the rusty chains and shackles, that get shoved into our arms and onto our shoulders, when we fail to see our Quits as… liberation!
So, please, let us not lay down one burden to just replace it with another.
Accept the lessons in every minute of your Quit, and learn to nourish your chosen gift.
Embrace it! Teach it!
Protect it! Respect it!
STORM: 9,000 cigarettes untouched by these freed hands